On the second floor of March Bookstore, inside Jiang Ge's office, the three members of the Cunning Hares were sitting around a round table, waiting for Jiang Ge's arrival.
Jiang Ge had temporarily gone downstairs with Corin to fetch some things. Bored, Ellen chewed bubble gum, leaned against the wall and watched the three who were whispering amongst themselves.
Nicole, Anby, and Billy of the Cunning hares.
Come to think of it, Ellen knew these three as well, as they were always shamelessly mooching meals off Jiang Ge.
Right now, Nicole and Billy were as restless as ants on a hot pan.
"What do we do, what do we do? I always thought it was strange before... how could the owner of a bookstore with hardly any customers afford to hire a maid... But who would have guessed he's the boss of 'Goodenough'?"
Nicole kept tapping her fingers on the table,
Upon learning that the person behind the running of "Goodenough" was actually the young man running March bookstore on Tenth Street, Nicole was completely taken aback.
After all, Nicole had not only frequently brought Anby and Billy to his place for free meals but had also bragged in front of him about how he could always turn to the Cunning hares for help if he ever faced any difficulties. She even brought Billy along to boast about the "glorious deeds" of the cunning hares in front of him.
At the time, Jiang Ge would always express amazement at thier exploits, showering them with praise before quietly covering the meal bills. Nicole had felt incredibly proud and satisfied back then.
But looking back now, Nicole feels utterly embarrassed. After all, any one of the legendary feats accomplished by the agents of "Goodenough" far surpasses anything the cunning hares have ever achieved.
This feeling was especially reinforced during their last mission, when Nicole witnessed the legendary agent Welt Yang effortlessly use gravity to crush the Dullahan—which had chased them from the first floor all the way to the rooftop—into pieces. That experience made Nicole even more certain of the true prowess of Goodenough's legendary agents.
But what made Nicole even more mortified was the realization that the reason the cunning hares had received job offers from "Goodenough" was likely because a few days ago, while mooching a meal off Jiang Ge, she had downed a few bottles of alcohol and started complaining about how business had been slow lately. As the conversation went on, she somehow ended up saying that if she could just connect with "Goodenough," the industry leader, she'd definitely make a fortune.
Then, the next day, after she sobered up, she received an invitation to join "Goodenough." At the time, she thought she had finally caught a lucky break and never once suspected Jiangge had anything to do with it.
Now, she had no idea what kind of expression to wear when facing Jiang Ge.
"Boss Nicole, don't panic! Jiang Ge... I mean, Mr. Jiang is definitely easy to talk to."
"Billy, didn't you joke before that Mr. Jiang was a bookworm?"
"Yeah... So, so, what should we do now, Boss?"
"When he gets here, we need to apologize right away!"
Just like that, Nicole and Billy suddenly began self-reflecting, and in their conversation, Jiang Ge went from being their "buddy Jiang " to "Mr. Jiang."
"It's exactly like The Chameleon."
Anby, sitting to the side, recalled a videotape called The Chameleon that she had rented from Random video store. The scene before her now bore an uncanny resemblance to some of the scenes in that film.
However, unlike Nicole and Billy, Anby didn't think Jiang Ge would hold these things against them. After all, if Jiang Ge really minded, he wouldn't have extended the invitation to join his organization in the first place, let alone allowed the cunning hares to keep mooching meals off him.
That said, Anby had always found it a bit puzzling why Jiang Ge had been so tolerant towards them, even kindly covering their meal bills. Surely he couldn't actually have been fooled by Nicole's smooth-talking, right?
And now, after learning his true identity...
Anby grew even more puzzled. Since Jiang Ge had so many legendary agents under his command—agents far more efficient than them—why would he still want to bring them into the fold?
After turning it over in her mind, Anby combined these two questions and finally arrived at an answer.
That's right—it must be because "Goodenough" had taken on a near-suicidal mission. Jiang Ge didn't want to waste his own agents, so he was looking for a few pawns to test the waters.
And if the cunning hares refused, Jiang Ge would likely bring up all the meal debts they owed him, forcing them to accept the mission no matter what.
How... ruthless!
But if that really was the case, there was nothing they could do. For Nicole's sake, she would give it her all!
Anby silently steeled her resolve.
"Sorry to keep you all waiting... Huh?"
Just then, the door opened, and Jiang Ge walked in with a smile, only to find Nicole and Billy slumped over the table with pained expressions.
...while Anby was looking at him as if he were a formidable enemy.
What was going on?
A bewildered Jiangge turned his gaze to Ellen, but she merely shrugged, indicating that she didn't know either.
So... what in the world was happening?
Staring at the chaotic scene, Jiang Ge fell into complete confusion.
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A/n: While I am a new translator, I have a Patreon! While it may be a bit empty right now both this and the other book on my page has advanced chapters posted on patreon. Set up for my web novel will be 2 chapters for every book a day and if you go to my patreon you'll see the set up there.
patreon.com/deadlygoober